Posts Categorized: News

Common Core Backer to Lead College Board; Maine Development Foundation Prez Heads to Thomas; Former UMass Amherst Chancellor Ousted at LSU

David Coleman, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant and co-founder of Student Achievement Partners, will become president of the College Board in October 2012, succeeding Gaston Caperton, who announced plans to step down.Maine Development Foundation President Laurie Lachance announced she would leave the position to become president of Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, effective July 1. The...

Mass. Rehab Commission to Hold NE Symposium on Vets and Higher Ed Success

The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission will hold a symposium on Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Ensuring Success in Higher Education, at Salem State University on Wednesday, June 6 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.The symposium is designed to educate college and university staff who work with veterans to ensure their success in pursuing higher education. The event is open to all colleges and uni...

No Vacancy (Survey, That Is)

NEBHE conducted a Student Vacancy Survey every spring from 1960 to 2009 as a public service for New England residents still looking for college space as of the traditional May 1 admissions deadline and as a measure of college application trends. A few years ago, we determined to ease out of the vacancy survey business and its vagaries; some respondents had noted that even if there were X-number...

DC Shuttle: How to Pay for Student Loan Interest Rate Extension

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked a motion to proceed on the Senate Democrats' bill (S. 2343) to extend current interest rates on federal student loans for one year. With a vote of 52-45, the cloture motion failed to garner the needed 60 votes to proceed. Republicans objected to Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) refusal to allow a vote on the Republicans' alternative legislation (S. 2366). ...

Great NE Lecture Series (aka Spring Commencement Season) Hits Homestretch

We began covering Spring 2012 commencements back in December 2011, when Northeastern University announced (via Twitter no less) that former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell would keynote Northeastern's 110th commencement on May 4. ... From there, we reported on Gov. Malloy, Sen. Kerry, Victoria Reggie Kennedy Among Newly Announced NE Commencement Speakers (before, that is, the Catholic college w...

DC Shuttle: To Hold Down Student Loan Interest Rates, Congress Weighs Cuts to Health Law, Closing Tax Benefits for Oil and Gas Cos.

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats introduced a bill (S. 2343) to extend the current interest rate on subsidized student loans for one year beyond the July 1 expiration date. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the cost of a one-year extension to be $6 billion, which the bill would pay for by ending a tax benefit for S corporations. Under the bill, shareholders of these corporations w...

New Chiefs at Mount Ida, UMaine Farmington, Presque Isle; Former SCSU Prez Finds Footing at Slippery Rock

Mount Ida College announced that Barry Brown, provost, professor and former acting president of Suffolk University, would become president of the Newton, Mass. college, effective July 1.University of Maine System trustees approved two new campus presidents. Kathryn A. Foster, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., was appointed president of the University of Maine at F...

A Few More Commencements

University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst and Connecticut's State Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz will be among 14 speakers to address UConn graduates on Sunday, May 6. Herbst, will speak at 12:30 p.m., and Katz at 5 p.m. in UConn's Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.Carolyn Lynch, CEO of the Lynch Foundation established by she and her husband Peter in 1987, and Amy Lin...

Heap of Debt: Will Student Loan Interest Rates Go Up?

Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Department of Education. For the first time, student loans taken out in 2011 exceeded $100 billion with total student loans surpassing $1 trillion. Mounting student debt has forced many students to drop out, resulting in the low college-complet...

DC Shuttle: Bill Would Make Sure Student Aid Funds Aren’t Spent on Marketing

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) is sponsoring legislation to prevent colleges from using federal student aid revenue, including Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, to fund marketing activities. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), who is also sponsoring the not yet introduced bill, said that it would "protect taxpayers' investment of billions of dollars in stud...